- - - - - - - - Another World - - - - - - - -
As soon as I woke up, a man who could only be described as a disgusting rag. Introduced himself as a ‘Genius inventor’ after naming me his magnum opus. His oversized nose blew dried mucus towards me as he hyperventilated, turning a bright red color.
Reflexively, I tried to cover my face, only to realize my arm was bolted into the platform I was on. Moving my head around, I found that not only were all my limbs tightly bolted, my torso was also tied down with a leather strap. And another detail that I forgot to mention is… my body does not seem like a human one; it appears to be fashioned from wood, bearing uncanny resemblance to a puppet. Yes, it's that time I got reincarnated as a puppet.
With another scan of the environment, I can deduce the room that I'm in is some sort of testing ground. Gray flat stone floor, hard reinforced large brick walls, and no roof with the morning sun beaming throughout. There seems to be some tree branches overarching, it looks like I’m in a forest.
That was just about all that had happened after I had blacked out. And Indeed, I find myself in a peculiar circumstance. The equivalent of waking up to a BDSM play, in fact I doubt it's anything but.
“Hey, say the word ‘articulate’” the disgusting rag said as he slaps around my face.
“Articulate” I had noticed that my mouth felt off as I spoke. It was as if my mouth had not moved at all to articulate the word. Instead, as I intend to speak, the words just come right out.
“Hmm”, he nodded, “The voice box is working.” The disgusting rag mumbled something. Before removing the bolts on all of my limbs. “Now move the arms” he barked.
I easily lifted my hand as I noticed a darkish spiral like pattern that seemed to cover my whole body.
“Now the legs,” he ordered.
My legs moved with no hitch.
“Very well…” he mumbled something again, looking satisfied after going through his checklist.
Looks like sudden-isekai-protocol number 6 worked well. If I can continue to fool this guy into thinking I was just some non-sentient puppet, I can plan my escape much more easily. Thank you, past chunni me.
“Alright, let’s continue to phase two”
After he said that, the disgusting rag went to another room and came back with an iron sword, he gave it to me and ordered me to hold it firmly. He then proceeded to go up the staircase of a tower embedded into the corners of the room and flipped a lever. Suddenly the iron gate in front of me moved and revealed an even more disgusting rag, an orc.
Huh? Do I need to fight that guy? But the disgusting rag didn’t order anything about fighting, is he testing me? The smile on his face says it all: he's testing me. Dammit, alright fine, hopefully self-preservation doesn’t indicate the fact that I’m sentient. Maybe all puppets are like that.
“ROAAAR” The green orc roared loudly and gripped his axe before charging at me.
The sound of his heaving could be heard resonating throughout the room as he closes the distance rapidly.
I gripped the hilt of my sword tightly, preparing to strike. As the orc came close enough to swing down his axe, I dashed out of the way easily. My body moved away swiftly, as if I was weightless.
*Zooom* … *Bang* *Clatter*
More astonishingly, the orc had swung his axe so vigorously, that it made a lasting impression on the stone floor, dust and stone shards flying away from the impact with some even hitting me.
After that, I made my move on the orc. I raised my sword in a high arc, preparing to strike. The orc glanced at me briefly as tries to raise his axe in time. In one clean stroke, I made a cutting motion right where the bowel of the orc is.
*Swoosh* “RAAAAAAAAAWR” *Thud*
As I had planned, my sword had sliced open his stomach.
The orc writhed in pain as he clutched his open wound, consequentially he had dropped his axe onto the ground creating a heavy thump.
I readied my sword once again at the side of my head, gripping it tightly with both arms. Before pulling back the sword as far as I could, preparing for a strike. One clean strike on the neck will be all it takes.
But before I could, a sense of realization sprung up within me. I caught myself from swinging the sword. Instead, I gripped it on the side of my hip.
A trickle of sweat would have run down my face if it wasn't for the fact that I visibly could not. My mind sprinted back towards a rash assumption I had made. If I had killed without order from him, he might have found out my true nature.
In essence, I chose to go back to my original position before the fight had started and stood there silently.
… “Grrr”
… “Grrr”
The occasional grunting of the orc could be heard as I stood there silently, imitating a statue. Otherwise, the room had turned completely silent. With no hint of time even moving. Though I admit that if I had held back from fighting the orc, there was a chance I could have been killed. Witnessing that tremendous destructive power made me realize how strong something like a common enemy in a game was.
On the other hand, there was a possibility that I had just dealt a fatal blow to one of his pets. For certain, I don't know if orcs could be domesticated or not.
But just as I was about to reach a conclusion, clapping sounded in the room, followed by laughter as the disgusting rag walked away from the tower towards me.
“Muahahahaha! That was excellent, looks like this prototype is a success. I’m going to be rich now! Muahahahahah!”
“Now go ahead and kill that orc, I don’t need it anymore”
Thank god, I haven't messed up.
I breathed a sigh of relief in my head, knowing I hadn't messed up yet. But I can't shake the slimy feeling off from playing into his hands. The feeling itself was closer to irritation.
With brisk movements, I sliced apart the orc’s neck, decapitating his head off his shoulder.
The old rag looked on as he stood silently. Should I try to subdue him right now and escape? It's looking quite tempting to cut down this guy with him so close to my blade.
“Now that I have a working prototype, phase three is to improve the body”
Though I guess it wouldn't hurt to play along with this 'genius' old coot.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After thoroughly cleansing the repulsive remains of the slain orc, the disgusting rag ordered me to follow him as he took me outside. Revealing a lush green forest as far as the eye could see.
He led me down the slippery stone slope, and we walked into the forest, following a rabbit trail that is barely discernible as a path. Until we reached what was the forest’s periphery.
There we traversed a precarious, dilapidated wooden bridge that spanned across a deep ravine. The mossy wooden boards had nearly made me slip more times than not as I gripped the hemp rope that spanned the ravine perpendicular to the bridge. We then proceeded to board a carriage that had sat idly, across vast plains. After what felt like an eternity, we arrived at what looks like a massive mansion on the outskirts of a village.
Surprisingly, despite his looks, the disgusting rag seems to be quite wealthy.
He took me inside through one of the hallways of his incredibly large mansion. It wasn't ornate in any regard, but it gave off a somewhat ill-fitting atmosphere. Not that I could name why, as there were not any notable descriptions I could make. But it all went by in my head as we quickly arrived at our destination.
As he opened the door, dirt, and dust was swept across the air. Revealing to what was a plane wreck of a room, with things strewn about everywhere and tools placed wherever it could.
“Haaah.” he sighed dejectedly.
I would never not count the disgusting rag as lazy or disorderly.
The room housed some interesting pieces of equipment that I have never before seen.
Lucky! I thought as my eyes darted around the room.
The disgusting rag ordered me to lay down on the operating table, before chanting an indiscernible gibberish and then turning away to leave the room.
But instead, as I lay there waiting for him to leave the room, the disgusting rag had prepared some bedding next to a table where he laid down to sleep on the floor.
What does this mean?
Is he a resident of the mansion? But clearly he isn't as he is sleeping here instead of his own bedroom. Hell, don't servants at least get their own? Maybe he’s that kinda guy, who can sleep wherever he wants since it's his house. Compared to me, for comfort's sake, I'll take nothing shorter than the feeling of weightlessness and the warmth of the sun.
In the end, I can always find evidence if he really is the master of the house.
So, let’s enjoy our alone time, shall we?
First, assessing the level of civilization. From what I can see aside the weirdly shaped gadgets with some patterns engraved which I am assuming are magic tools, the tools, and equipment scattered around the room resemble smithing tools I recognize from the medieval era. I see an anvil, a set of blacksmithing tools, wooden workbenches, and various types of hammers and chisels. The walls are adorned with sketches and blueprints of intricate machinery, it seems like the disgusting rag actually has some neurons on his brain.
Alright, how about I try going outside?
I got up from the operating table and went out from what I assumed to be a workshop. After going through that hallway again, I went to the front entrance and turned the knob of the door.
Yea, I kinda guessed this would happen, who in their right mind would leave their front door unlocked when sleeping. Well, I would assume the disgusting rag is not in that category. Fine, let’s check the other rooms. Going outside with my current body and getting seen is probably a bad idea anyway.
After some exploring, the first floor of the mansion consists of a great hall, dining hall, kitchen, buttery, pantry, storeroom, drawing room, music room, armory, and guard room. Luckily there seems to be no servants or guards in this mansion, maybe they come here every so often? The place doesn’t look abandoned, despite there being only one man in it to clean.
And when I went up to the second floor, I was greeted by a library and got sucked into it. In the end, I stayed there for three and a half hours and didn't have time to explore the second floor rooms. In exchange, I got some good intel on the geography, politics, major factions, and monetary systems.
After I realized that four hours had passed, thanks to the clock on the wall, I immediately went back to the workshop and laid back down on the operating table. I gave myself four hours because going back when the disgusting rag’s has entered rem sleep could increase the chances of him waking up.
As I sat there in silence, except for the few snores from the disgusting rag, I was calculating my next move from today's findings.
My current situation is not the norm. From the result of having a wooden body, that is. So, if I try to escape right now, I'll have a lot of trouble finding my place in the outside world. I think having a normal human body is impossible right now, unless there is some magic trickery out there that can transfer the soul. And even if I become an authoritarian king right here, right now, I estimate it would take around 500 years or so to make my old soul transfer device.
So I need to make reliable connections that will accept who I currently am with this body. And the connection I have right now is… sleeping beside me and unreliable. I think he will treat me worse if I reveal my sentience.
The situation is not good, but why is my phantom heart beating so hard and why am I having this phantom smirk on my face? Well, this experience is what I asked for in my dreams. Every. Single. Night.
